Guiding and manipulating apparatus for a rolling mill



May'18, 1965 P. A. CLARK ETAL GUIDING AND MANIPULATING APPARATUS FOR AROLLING MILL Filed Sept. 26, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INvEN'rQRS ATTORNEY y1965 P. A. CLARK ETAL 3,184,077

GUIDING AND MANIPULATING APPARATUS FOR A ROLLING MILL Filed. Sept. 26,1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS ATTOEN EY y 8, 1965 P. A. CLARK ETAL3,134,077

GUIDING AND MANIPULATING APPARATUS FOR A ROLLING MILL Filed Sept. 26,1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 lNVENToR:

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,184,077 GUIDING AND MANIPULATINGAPPARATUS FOR A ROLLING MILL Patrick Alwyne Clark, Norton, Sheifield,and Tom Alexander George Shimeld, Shefiield, England, assignors to Davyand United Engineering Company Limited, Sheffield, England, a Britishcompany Filed Sept. 26, 1961, Ser. No. 140,817 Claims priority,application Great Britain, Sept. 30, 12360, 33,619/ 60 11 Claims. (Cl.214-1) This invention relates to rolling mills and more pan ticularly tothe guidance of billets of an unstable nature in such a mill.

It is usual to employ apparatus for turning billets between successivepasses through a mill and such apparatus commonly comprises so-calledmanipulators. it has been found that when these manipulators arepositioned at some distance from the mill, approximately 36 feet in oneinstance, for example, billets having diamond-shaped and various othersections prove to be unstable between leaving the manipulators andentering the mill.

One object or" the invention is to reduce this difficulty by providingapparatus for guiding and supporting a billet in such circumstances.

It is also usual for the above manipulators to be variable in that theycan be adjusted to permit handling of difierent size billets.

Another object of the invention is to provide guide apparatus which isautomatically set to the appropriate position with respect to associatedmanipulators in any operable position of the latter over a predeterminedrange.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is providedapparatus for guiding and supporting elongate material in associationwith adjustable manipulating means for the material, the apparatuscomprising two mutually inclined rollers, and adjusting means formaintaining said rollers substantially symmetrically disposed withrespect to said manipulating means.

In another aspect the present invention provides apparatus for guidingand supporting elongate material in association with a pair ofrelatively adjustable manipulating means for the material, the apparatuscomprising two mutually inclined rollers, and adjusting means formaintaining said rollers symmetrically disposed relative to the passline between said manipulator means, the adjusting means beingoperatively coupled to, and automatically responsive to, adjustment ofsaid manipulator means.

In the application of the invention discussed above the apparatus willnormally be disposed between the rollers of the main table over whichthe manipulators are opera tive, and the breast rollers of the mill.Since the manipulators and mill may be designed for operation with agreater range of products than that for which the invention isnecessary, such as the handling and rolling of blooms, the inventionadditionally provides according to a further aspect means for renderingsaid apparatus inoperative.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readilycarried into effect, the same will now be more fully described withreference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 illustrates one embodiment of the invention,

FIGURE 2 is a section IIII of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a section III-Ill of FGURE l, and

EJ8 1377 Patented May 18, 19155 FIGURE 4 illustrates the embodiment ofFIGURE 1 in a diiferent disposition.

In FIGURE 1 a diamond-section billet '11 is passed over the two inclinedrollers 12 of the invent-ion which are journalled in one end of asupport beam 13 disposed between the two heads 14 and 15 of amanipulator. The support beam 13 is itself supported by a pivotconnection 16 to an intermediate point of a linkage member 17, and by aguide roller 18 which is carried at the end of support be am 13 distantfrom rollers 12 and which is mounted in tracks 19 (FIGURES 1, 3) formedin head 15.

The upper end of linkage member 17 is pivotally connected at 20 to oneend of a support arm 21 the other end of which is rotatable about pivot22 the bearings 23 for which are mounted on the head 15. linkage member17 also has its upper end pivotally connected at 24 to one end of a rod25 which is slidably mounted in two projections 26 and 27 carried bysupport arm 21. The section of rod 25 where it passes through projection27 is larger than that through projection 26 and a spring 28 is heldunder compression between projection 26 and the increased section of rod25. The outer ends of rod 25 are provided with flanges to form stops incooperation with projections 26 and 27.

Manipulator head 14 is provided with a stop-member extension 29, asshown, with which the lower end of linkage member '17 engages duringnormal operation.

In the operation of the above embodiment support arm 21 is normallylocked so that linkage member 17 is effectively pivotally connected at26 for rotation about a fixed axis. Thus, adjustment of the position ofeither of the manipulator heads 14 or 15 to close the gap therebetweenwill be accompanied by simultaneous rotation of linkage member 17 aboutpivot 20 by the engagement of member 7 17 with extension 29, and bycompression of spring 28.

At the same time, support beam 13 with rollers 12 are moved by thepivotal connection at 16 for a corresponding adjustment of the positionof rollers 12. During the latter adjustment, support beam 13 is rotatedabout pivot 16 by the action of roller 18 in the track 19 to maintainbeam 13 horizontal.

Similarly, adjustment of the posit-ion of either or the manipulatorheads 14 or 15 to increase the gap therebetween is accompanied by acorresponding adjustment of the position of rollers 12, by expansion ofspring 28 to maintain the lower end of linkage member 17 engaged withextension 29.

The various linking members with their pivots may be readily designedand disposed so that movement of either manipulator head results incorresponding adjustment of the support beam to maintain the rollers 12symmetrically disposed with respect to head faces of the manipulatorheads, with the intersection of the roller axes centrally disposedbetween the faces of the manipulator heads.

In the particular embodiment described above there will be a slightarcuate movement of the rollers 12 over the range of adjustment of theapparatus as a result of locking pivot 22 and so fixing the position ofpivot 21?. However, this will normally be advantageous since the effectis to raise the level of rollers 12 as the gap between heads 14 and 15is narrowed. Since this gap would normally be narrowed in operationssuch as the progressive reduction of billets in V gates, the reductionachieved may be compensated, as it were, by the rise of rollers 12.

During the above adjustment, the pass line between rollers 12 will berotated relative to that between the manipulator heads 14 and 15. Thisoccurs because, during adjustment, pivot 16 is rotated about pivot 20,and so the line between pivot 16 and roller 18 rotates. Although in manycases the resultant rotation of beam 13 will not be significant it maybe desirable, particularly in the case of larger ranges of adjustment,to maintain the beam 13 horizontal and so avoid tilting of the rollers12. This may be achieved by use of suitable curvature for track 19,whereby Wheel 18 rises and falls with pivot 16 over the range ofadjustment.

In a, further feature of the invention the rollers 12 may be renderedinoperative by suitable actuating means, so as to render the guideoperation ineffective. FIG- URE 4 illustrates one example of such afeature wherein the embodiment of FIGURE 1 is provided with actuatingmeans in the form of an air cylinder 30 pivotally connected at one endto an extension 31 of the head structure 15, and at the other end to anextension 32 from the pivot 22 of support arm 21. If air cylinder 30 isexpanded, extension 32 and support arm 21, and consequently the wholeguide assembly, are rotated anticlockwise about pivot 22 to lowerrollers 12 and render them inoperative. In this lowered position spring28 will be expanded to the fullest extent defined by the projections 26and 27.

Inthe normal adjustment of this embodiment, as described above withreference to FIGURE 1, cylinder 30 may be employed to lock the pivot 22.

Although in the introduction above it is stated that guiding meansaccording to the invention may be provided between the manipulators andthe mill, the above embodiment shows such means between a pair ofmanipulator heads. Such an arrangement as shown is found quite suitablefor the usual case where a succession of manipulator head pairs areemployed, the above pair being the last of the succession prior to entryto the mill. However, it is quite clear that the. guiding means abovemay be set to one side of the manipulator heads 14 and 15, between theheads and the mill, say, by providing lateral extensions to carrysupport member 21 and for engagement with the lower end of linkagemember 17.

Although the present invention has been particularly described, by wayof example, with reference to a specific embodiment, it is of course notintended to be limited'thereby. The specific embodiment may be modified,without departing from the scope of the invention.

Thus the sequence of pivotal connections along the linkage member can bevaried, as also can the position for engagement with extension 29 frommanipulator head 14. Also, for example, the support beam 13 couldequally well engage a track carried by manipulator head 14' instead of15.

Furthermore, if support beam 13 is required to be maintained horizontalover the range of adjustment, and

' lowering is not required, the beam may be engaged with tracks such as19 in both manipulator heads and connected to linkage member 17 by a pinand slot coupling.

It will therefore be appreciated from these further examples that theinvention as described above may be readily designed for applicationinvarious circumstances.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, We haveexplained the principle and operation of our invention and haveillustrated and described what we consider to represent the bestembodiment thereof. However, we desire to have it understood that withinthe scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practicedotherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

We claim: 7

'1. A billet manipulator for a rolling mill comprising a pair ofspaced-apart manipulating devices, each of which is movable with respectto the other, a pair of mutually inclined rollers for supporting abillet, a support beam for both said rollers slidably connected to oneof said manipulating devices for movement transversely of the spacingbetween said manipulating devices, and a linkage member pivotallyconnected to said support beam and to one said manipulating device andengaging the other said manipulating device, for adjusting said supportbeam automatically on movement of at least one of said manipulatingdevices, to maintain said pair of rollers symmetrically disposed withrespect to said devices for a a given range of separation thereof;

-2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein there is a track on saidfirst manipulating device and mutually inclined rollers are journalledin one end of said support beam, said beam is pivotally connected at anintermediate point thereof to said'linkage member, and which is slidablyconnected at its other end from said rollers by engagement with saidtrack.

member to said first manipulating'device during normal adjustment ofsaid apparatus, and means for rotating said support member about thelatter pivotal connection to lower said mutually inclined rollers.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said locking and rotatingmeans comprises a pressure-actuated cylinder pivotally connected to saidsupport member, or an extension therefrom, at one end, and said firstmanipulating device at the other end.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein there are means to compensatefor tilting of the pass line of said mutually inclined rollers relativeto that between said manipulating devices over the range of adjustmentof the apparatus.

7. A billet manipulator for a rolling mill comprising a pair of spaced.apart manipulating devices, each of which is movable with respect to theother, a pair of mutually inclined rollers for supporting a billet, saidpair of rollers being disposed symmetrically between said manipulatingdevices, supporting means for said pair of rollers mounted for movementtransversely of the spacing between said manipulating devices, and alinkage member operatively connected to said supporting means and toeach of said manipulating devices for adjusting said supporting meansautomatically on movement of at least one of said manipulating devices,to maintain said pair of rollers symmetrically disposed with respect tosaid devices for a given range of separation thereof.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7 comprising also means for rotatingsaid linkage member and the operative coupling therefor with said firstmanipulating means, whereby said rollers are rendered inoperative.

9. A billet manipulator as claimed in claim 7 in which said linkagemember is pivotally coupled to both said supporting means and a first ofsaid manipulating devices, and is arranged to engage with the second ofsaid devices.

10. A billet manipulator as claimed in claim 9 comprising also aotuatingmeans connected to said first device and operative on said linkagemember to urge said linkage member into engagement with said seconddevice.

11. A billet manipulator as claimed in claim 9 comprising also a thrustrod pivotally connected at one end to said linkage member, two spacedextension members which are connected to said first device and throughwhich said thrust rod passes, stop means on said thrust rod between eachof said extension members and the associated ends of said rod, and acompression spring disposed around said rod between the extension membernearer said linkage member, on the one hand, and further stop means onsaid rod intermediate said extension member, on the other hand, wherebysaid compression spring normally acts to rotate said linkage memberabout the point at which it is pivoted to said first device to maintainthe engagement between said linkage member and said second device.

6 References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,112,829 12/63Modder 8048 FOREIGN PATENTS 613,563 5/35 Germany.

WILLIAM J. STEPHENSON, Primary Examiner.

LEON PEAR, Examiner.

1. A BILLET MANIPULATOR FOR A ROLLING MILL COMPRISING A PAIR OFSPACED-APART MANIPULATING DEVICES, EACH OF WHICH IS MOVABLE WITH RESPECTTO THE OTHER, A PAIR OF MUTUALLY INCLINED ROLLERS FOR SUPPORTING ABILLET, A SUPPORT BEAM FOR BOTH SAID ROLLERS SLIDABLY CONNECTED TO ONEOF SAID MANIPULATING DEVICES FOR MOVEMENT TRANSVERSELY OF THE SPACINGBETWEEN SAID MANIPULATING DEVICES, AND A LINKAGE MEMBER PIVOTALLYCONNECTED TO SAID SUPPORT BEAM AND TO ONE SAID MANIPULATING DEVICE ANDENGAGING THE OTHER SAID MANIPULATING DEVICE, FOR ADJUSTING SAID SUPPORTBEAM AUTOMATICALLY ON MOVABLE OF AT LEAST ONE OF SAID MANIPULATINGDEVICE, TO MAINTAIN SAID PAIR OF ROLLERS SYMMETRICALLY DISPOSED WITHRESPECT TO SAID DEVICES FOR A GIVEN RANGE OF SEPARATION THEREOF.